BBRN
Well-Known Member
I just wanted to post my experiences with the SMSL 1955+ DAC and was wondering if anyone else was using this inexpensive DAC from China. I bought one of these a few months ago via the bay, and within 2 weeks it started producing static from the left channel. Unfortunately, I purchased it from a 3rd party vendor, and it was a bit of a hassle shipping it back to China, but the seller did offer a full refund. When it worked, it worked quite well, and was very detailed. I then thought maybe it was a one-time fluke, and decided to purchase another directly from SMSL. Unfortunately, once again the exact same thing happened, but this time only using the USB and listening to 24/192 files. I contacted SMSL, and I must say they do offer a good service to their customers, and replied back in a timely manner. I was instructed to open the unit up and check the opamps to make sure they were seated correctly...they were. The company then decided to send me a complete board without the casing as a replacement with no hesitation, and most likely due to the high cost of shipping and headaches of China post they didn't even require me to ship the original back. After reading some posts in other forums, it seems this is a common issue with these, and others have had luck with different opamps. So, now I had an extra board and decided to do some experimenting. The unit contains 2 5532DD and 1 OPA275, which are both decent opamps, but I am guessing that in order to cut some cost, the opamps are china reproductions, and may not be quite up to par. I replaced the 275 with a Burr Brown 2107, and the 2 5532's with the reliable Burr Brown 2134. WOW! what a difference. The DAC sounds even better than before, and its been around two weeks with absolutely no issues...it seems much more stable. It really is a decent DAC especially for the $, but looks like it may need either better quality, or different opamps to be stable. Anyways, just wanted to report my results, and see if anyone else here on AK was using this DAC with any luck.
-BB
-BB